Yul Brynner's mother, Maria Dimitrievna (née Blagovidova), came from the intelligentsia and studied to be an actress and singer; she was the granddaughter of a doctor who had converted from Judaism to the Russian Orthodox Church.[3] Brynner exaggerated his background and early life for the press, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of part-Mongol parentage, on the Russian island of Sakhalin. In reality, he was born at home in a 4 storey residence at #15 Aleutskaya Street, Vladivostok.[4] A biography written by his son Rock Brynner in 1989 clarified these issues. He also claimed to be a quarter Romany and in 1983 was elected to the position of Honorary President of the Roma, an office that he kept until he died. He also infrequently referred to himself as Julius Briner.[1]

After Boris Brynner abandoned his family, his mother took Yul and his sister, Vera Bryner (Russian: Вера Бринер), to Harbin, China, where they attended a school run by the YMCA, and in 1934 she took them to Paris. During World War II, Brynner worked as a French-speaking radio announcer and commentator for the U.S. Office of War Information, broadcasting propaganda to occupied France.

Career

He began acting and modeling in his twenties, and early in his career he was photographed nude by George Platt Lynes.[5]

Photographer, author, and musician

In addition to his work as a performer, Brynner was an active photographer, and wrote two books. His daughter Victoria put together Yul Brynner: Photographer (ISBN 0-8109-3144-3) a collection of his photographs of family, friends, and fellow actors, as well as those he took while serving as a UN special consultant on refugees. Brynner wrote Bring Forth the Children: A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East (1960) and The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You (1983 ISBN 0-8128-2882-8).

A student of music from childhood, Brynner was an accomplished guitarist and singer. In his early period in Europe he often played and sang gypsy songs in Parisian nightclubs with Aliosha Dimitrievitch. He sang some of those same songs in the film The Brothers Karamazov. In 1967, he and Dimitrievitch released a record album, The Gypsy and I: Yul Brynner Sings Gypsy Songs (Vanguard VSD 79265).

Personal life

Brynner was married four times, the first three ending in divorce. He fathered three children and adopted two.

His daughter Lark Brynner (born 1958) was born out of wedlock and raised by her mother. Brynner's second wife, Doris Kleiner (1960–1967), was a Chilean model, whom he married on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven in 1960.[6] They had one child, Victoria Brynner (born November 1962), whose godmother was Audrey Hepburn.

His third wife, Jacqueline Thion de la Chaume[7] (1971-1981), was a French socialite, the widow of Philippe de Croisset (son of French playwright Francis de Croisset), a publishing executive, the victim of a car accident. Brynner and Jacqueline adopted two Vietnamese children: Mia (1974), and Melody (1975). The first house that he ever owned was the Manoir de Cricqueboeuf, a sixteenth-century manor house that he and Jacqueline purchased.[7]

He married his fourth wife, Kathy Lee, a 24 year old ballerina from a small town in Malaysia whom he had met in a production of The King and I, in which she had a small dancing role. The marriage lasted for 2 years (1983-1985) until Brynner's death.[8]

According to Marlene Dietrich's daughter Maria Riva (as she wrote in her memoir Marlene Dietrich, 1994), he had a passionate affair with the famous actress during the first production of The King and I.

Death

Knowing he was dying of cancer, Brynner starred in a run of farewell performances of his most famous role, The King and I, on Broadway from January 7 to June 30, 1985, with Mary Beth Peil.

Throughout his life, Brynner was often seen with a cigarette in his hand. In January 1985, nine months before his death, he gave an interview on Good Morning America, expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial.[9] A clip from that interview was made into just such a public service announcement by the American Cancer Society, and released after his death; it includes the warning "Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that." [10] This advertisement is now featured in the Body Worlds exhibition.

Brynner is interred in the grounds of the Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry Russian Orthodox monastery not far from Luzé, between Tours and Poitiers, Vienne, France.